Merleau-Ponty's object-horizon structure (2002 p.'78) states that a perceived object is always
seen in relation to a surrounding horizon. When I look at an object I will see it from a certain
angle, and it would appears differently seen from another side. To look at an object is to
``plunge'' into it, which makes it possible to distinguish objects, and their relative position,
from each other. The object-horizon structure may also apply to time. Present time is a fixed
point in time that depends of all other times to be determined. The now retains the immediate
past, as the future will do with present time. These double horizons of retention and
protention (p.80) imply that the now become an identifiable fixed point in objective time.
With the terms object and structure, Schaeffer (1966) defines the perceived relation between
object and context. We perceive object and structure by means of identification: each object is
part of a context and a single object can in turn be described as a unique structure of
constitutional objects, which then can be identified and described in yet smaller units:
- Every object is perceived as an object only in a context, which includes it.
- Every structure is perceived only as a structure of objects which composes it.
- Every object of perception is at the same time an OBJECT in so far as it is perceived as a unit locatable in a context, and a STRUCTURE in so far as it is itself composed of several objects
(Chion, 1983, p. 56).
Schaeffer calls this relationship object-structure chain, and may either go towards the
infinitesimal, or inversely, toward the infinitely big.
adrian
2015-06-03
